In the tradition of countless politicians before her, Susan Fennell, known then as an articulate, down-to-earth former businesswoman, said her city needed change when she shunted her name from the “Councillor” to the “Mayor” column on the October 2000 election ballot.

But change — big change — was coming no matter who led the city, thanks to an ever-gathering swell of new Bramptonians.

That the city was experiencing a spurt was no secret when Fennell made her move to unseat longtime mayor Peter Robertson. In the nearly five years preceding her election, the city saw a 15.6 per cent increase in residents, drawn by factors such as Brampton’s proximity to the airport and major highways, and the increasing presence of thriving immigrant communities.

An influx of new Canadians was changing the face of the suburban city. By 2001, 39.9 per cent of the city’s population was immigrants, predominantly Pakistani, Indian and Polish. Hearing Punjabi or Urdu in the grocery store or bank was becoming just as common as English; 18.8 per cent of the population said their mother tongue was Punjabi on the 2006 census.

“The growth has been obvious and drastic, and it’s been a real challenge for the municipality to keep up with competing interests,” said Councillor Elaine Moore, also elected in 2000.

Growing pains accompanied the population surge: road systems crammed with cars, over-burdened healthcare centres, an understaffed police service, and the mounting demands of an increasingly diverse public; calls for cricket pitches now rang out alongside those for soccer.

The rapid population increase was only beginning when Fennell started her term: in five years alone, from 2006 to 2011, the city saw 20 per cent growth. By comparison, Toronto grew by 4.5 per cent and Mississauga by 6.7 per cent over the same period.

That growth has meant the challenges facing Brampton today are similar to those it had when Fennell came into office — only (fittingly) bigger.

“As the city grows, it always seems to be catch-up with everything we do,” said Grant Gibson, a longtime Brampton councillor.

A booming population quickly gave rise to new neighborhoods, altering the look of a city that prior to 2000 had leaned towards sprawling, single-detached-home suburbia.

Pockets of dense urban condos have popped up, such as Mount Pleasant, which boasts 90 residents and jobs per hectare (the provincial requirement for new developments is 50).

“That’s not what you think of when you think of Brampton, but that’s really the type of development that we are seeing now,” said Arvin Prasad, director of integrated planning for the Region of Peel.

The population explosion has also sparked concerns about ghettoization, both in terms of income and race. Like other Peel Region municipalities, Brampton faces growing income inequality thanks to a decline in well-paying jobs, a surge of immigrants who may face language barriers in the workplace, and rising home prices.

Rajinder Saini, who arrived in Canada in 2000 and hosts a popular Punjabi radio show, is concerned that the city’s multiple ethnicities aren’t mixing as much as they could, discouraging cultural exchange.

“We say it is a diverse city, but at the same time, people are not integrating with the other communities. They prefer to stay in their own community,” he said.

There’s also the sentiment that Brampton is experiencing many of the challenges of a big city without getting the positives in the form of resources. An oft-aired complaint is that the Brampton has insufficient healthcare services.

In 2011, the provincial government opted to redevelop Peel Memorial Hospital after the opening of the new Brampton Civic Hospital, and reopen it as a health centre that doesn’t offer full hospital services, such as ambulatory care.

“We all feel here that we deserve two hospitals in Brampton,” said Gibson. “And the more people come in, the more it’s an issue.”

Another common complaint is that, despite being the GTA’s third largest city, Brampton doesn’t have all-day GO train service, something smaller municipalities such as Oakville enjoy.

Developing strategies to tackle the challenges presented by Brampton’s dramatic growth and shifting demographics might be easier if city council better reflected the population it serves. That the municipal government didn’t reflect the city’s multiculturalism was a complaint in the 2000 election, and remains so today.

John McClelland, of Citizens for a Better Brampton, said the group has been discussing whether a two-term limit should be in place for city politicians.

The presence of “career politicians” on council “may be one of the reasons why it’s not reflective of this diverse and fairly new population that we have in Brampton,” he said.

As mayor for nearly 15 years and councillor before that, Fennell certainly qualifies as a council lifer. With Fennell now embroiled in an ever-deepening spending scandal, there’s a strong possibility of a fresh face in the mayor’s chair this fall.

Whoever sits there will tackle growth-related challenges for the foreseeable future; Brampton’s population is projected to balloon by 200,000 people within the next 20 years.

Brampton, by the numbers

Population in 2001: 325,428

Population in 2011, the most recent data available: 523,911

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